The treatment of many bacterial diseases in man and in lower animals requires the infecting organism to be isolated and identified. While the collecting of such samples generally presents no difficulty, the storage and/or transportation of the sample to the testing laboratory under conditions which require the sample to be viable and free from contamination upon arrival, does present serious problems. It is necessary to not only avoid contamination of the sample from other organisms, but to also provide an environment which will maintain viability of the microbial culture during the time it is being transported and stored prior to being tested in the laboratory. Bacteria of the anaerobic or obligate types such as the bacilli of tetanus, gas gangrene, botulism and bacteroides require an oxygen deficient or oxygen free environment for proper growth and maintenance. Some other organisms require a special gaseous atmosphere for proper growth. Thus, gonococcus, meningococcus and brucella, require a carbon dioxide enriched atmosphere for proper growth.
Microbial samples are sometimes cultured in a separate culture retainer container such as a conventional petri dish or a culture tube or tubes containing a suitable nutrient medium. U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,302 discloses a petri dish in which the lid has a membraneous sealing flange arranged to form a seal with the dish when the lid is closed, and a capsule containing a reducing agent or other chemicals or agents for use in effecting oxygen absorption or desired atmospheric conditions in the petri dish. Such an arrangement requires special care and handling in order to prevent contamination of the culture and nutrient medium by the reducing agent or other chemicals or agents used in effecting oxygen absorption or other atmospheric conditions in the petri dish. U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,959 discloses a rigid outer vessel of a size to receive a culture retaining container such as a petri dish, and a gas generating apparatus which can be selectively activated and deposited in the outer vessel before it is closed and sealed, to provide a selected gaseous atmosphere around the culture retaining container. The arrangement disclosed in this patent, however, requires activation of the gas generating means and depositing of the same in the outer vessel before the latter can be closed and sealed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,012,203; 4,013,422; 4,023,934 and 4,038,148 disclose a flexible bag or package which is adapted to receive a separate culture retaining container such as a petri dish or culture tubes, together with a gas generating means and/or a gas indicator means. The flexible bags or packages do not retain the several components in a definite position in the bag. Further, these apparatus require separate operations to close the flexible bag or package and to activate the gas generating apparatus and/or gas indicator apparatus. Further, the flexible bags or packages do not protect the culture retaining container against damage from impact or crushing. Further, these culture apparatus utilize a deformable tube type housing for the gas generating apparatus and color indicator apparatus and which required assembly of several components in predetermined sequence through an end of the tube. This increased the cost and the time in assembly of the generating apparatus and color indicator apparatus. In addition, the flexible tube used for housing the gas generator and color indicator are sometimes punctured by a fragment or shard of the glass ampoule in the tube when the ampoule is ruptured. Puncturing of the tube can not only cause injury to the user, but can also result in puncturing of the outer flexible package with consequent loss of the atmospheric sustaining integrity of the outer package.